Wire crimping machine



Jam 16, 1951 GUESS 2,538,644

WIRE CRIMPING MACQINE Filed May 19, 1947 -2' $heets-Sheet l ZmventorJase-PH 2. 61/555 (Ittomeg Jam 16, 1951 J. R. GUESS WIRE CR-IMPINGMACHINE Filed May 19, 1947 2 sheets-sheet 2 JOSEPH 6022;

(Ittorneg Patented Jan. 16, 1951 NT F'F I CE outrun .srA'r 12 Claims.

:This invention relatesto. machines forcrimping=wire such .as-isadaptedto .be Woveninto screens.

.The wires .orrods used inheavy screensemployed-for screening gravel andlike-material are Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged fragmentary views ofsuchlarge cross-section that .itisnecessary showing successive .wirecrimping positions of to preform them before .the screen vis woven. thecrimping rolls. Heretofore, this waslaccomplished byaninter- Fig. 5 is.an.en1arged'crossesectional view .as mittent one-revolution .pressoperat on. -.While takenon the line.5'..5.of Fig.2. the .useof punch,pressesis sat'sfactoryinsofar he W e c p g ch e w ic is illusas theresultant article is concerned, they are trated comprises, gene a ly, airamerelativelyslow and for facility in handlinglthe a pair of parallelfts H nd lfl .m0unted.-in material, entailed v.pre-cutting the same intothe frame, means !3 connecting .theshafts-to. lengths. Die-struckcrimping, such as formed by r te oppositely, means l4 .todrivesaidshafa-punch and die, causes a weaken ng stretch in Wire crimping means i5carried by the shafts, therod or wire.fre quently resulting in fissurese guiding means i6 d-by f' amea with a resulting lossof strength in thesame. adjustable relative o the mpin vmeans 15,. .An object of'thepresent invention is to promeans H for effecting accurate alignment,of the. vide a wire crimpingmachine which performs crimping m 'is foradj ing o e. its function with ,a roll ng action so that the ha t withrespect to the other. crimps are each gradually and progressively eframe t! p i jsp d'e dsformed to cause a gradualstretch at thecrimps !9connected, near their bottoms, by;a vertical and thereby obviatingrupture such ascaused by member 20 and, thereabove, by a ..h0 I1tadie-lstruckimeans. member 2|. Theseparts are suitably connected Anotherobject of the .inventionis to provide by welding to form a rigid. framestructure. The a wire crimping machine which hasa rolling frame furtherincludes'a bracket 22 which exmill'action Wherebythe operation is.continuous tends outward from one of the standards It, a rather thanintermittent and enabling the han- Shaft J'OUTIlaTZii 0 e d f Sa d b acet/and a dling of wire from a roll thereof .when suitablysimilariollrn'l'mmounted on member 0. he fed'froma free running reel.drive means is 'is'mounted on'said journals 23 Another object of theinvention is .to provide and'2'4. v novel and improvedcrimping rolls andto pro- A journal bearing'ftis carried by'each stand-. videgsimpleandeffective means for adjusting ard and sai'dbearings are aligned toreceive the said rolls relatively to each other. shaft H. "The upper endof "each standard is .A furtheriobject of the invention is to provideform d with a s at'zt a d n a t, slidably improved means for guiding thewireon both engaged therein, there is provided a journal sides of thecrimping rolls and to make said bearing 2'! "for the -p, A p member 28means adjustable with respect to the faces of the is'secured' to 17116 1of each Standard and each rolls so that the crimping can be accomplished'p d W a threaded Vertical passage 29 at various portions of said facesto, thereby, rein alignment Withl'the respective bearingsu'l. duce wearon" the rolls. The means i3 interconnects shafts H and'l2 My inventionalso has for its objects to proand coml SeSa gearizli on shaft H andasimilar vide such means that are positive'in operation, m g rtl o sh fl The 1 r e r'is convenient 'in use, easily installed in a workingfixedly connected to its shaft. I position and easily d sconnectedtherefrom, eoc- The drive means "I4 comprises 'a shaft '32 nomical ofmanufacture, relativelysimple, and mounted between the journals 23and24,'a'pulof'general superiority and serviceability. ley '33 on saidshaft driven from any suitable Th'e invention also comprises noveldetails of meanssuch as-ian electric motor, a clutch 34 on' construction.and novel combinations and arsaid shaft, and a drive, such as geaI'S'35rangements ofparts which will more fully-apconnecting shafts 3'2 and II.With the clutch' pear in thescourse oftthe following description.M-engagedrotation of pulleys 33 results in To- However,;the drawingsmerely showand the foltation of shafts I! a d i in ppdirectionslowingdescription merelydescribes one :embodi- Thewire crimpmeans -C0 p p ment of 'the;present invention, which is given of rolls 3!and 38 on th respe iver f l an by way-of illustration or example only.li -said rolls being removably mounted TOIl I'eX- In :the .drawings, dke reference characters designate. similar partslinlthe several views 2Fig. 1 is a partially broken end elevational view of a-wire crimpingmachine embodying features of theinvention. a

"Fig. 2 isa side-elevationalview thereof.

tensions of said shaftsoutw-ard of thestanda'rdJS:

which is opposite to the standard carrying bracket 22. Each roll is madeof hardened steel and with a generously wide cylindrical surface and, inpractice, these surfaces are roughened or knurled as at 39; e

The roll 31, around its periphery, is formed with a plurality ofsimilar, uniformly spaced concave seats 40 each formed with a curvaturesomewhat deeper than the curvature of the crimps to be formed in thewire. Between adjacent seats 40, the roll 31 is formed with milledtransverse slots 4| for hardened rectangular die members 42. Each of thelatter extends, as at 43, above the surface of the roll and eachextension is curved, as shown, for the purpose of forming a series ofuniformly spaced indentations 44 in a wire. passing between the rolls.The members 42 are snugly fitted in slots 4 I, will retain theirposition therein and yet are readily removable for replacement.

The roll 38 around its periphery and spaced in accordance with thespacing of the seats 40, is formed with a plurality of slots 45 forhardened crimping members 45, each of which projects uniformly beyondthe surface of said roll and is formed with an outer curved edge 41. Thedegree of projection is determined by the size of the wire and the depthof the crimps to be formed in said wire. The crimping members 45 aresimilar to the members 42 and are held in place in a similar manner.

It is evident that a wire, passed between the rolls, as the latter aredriven as indicated, will be fed by the knurled surfaces of said rolls;that, as shown in Fig. 3, each of the crim ing members 46, successively,will stretch spaced parts of the wire W to force the same into alignedseats 4i; to form a series of ofisets or crimps 48 in said wire; thatthe curved edge 41 of the crimping continuous and the crimps are formedwithout restricting the wire on opposite ends thereof. The metal is thusfree to flow during crimping to obviate cranks and fissures therein. Thecrimps 48, of course, locate cross wires of a screen and theindentations 49 and 5!] effect accurate inter-lock of the warp and weftwires to provide a screen whose mesh is uniform throughout.

From'Fig. 2 it will be seen that the surfaces of the rolls are ofgenerous width so that the wire can be passed therebetween centrally ornearer either side, as desired, and thereby to give increased life tothe rolls. Accordingly. the means l6 ismade adjustable to guide the wireduring forming thereof. Said means 16 comprises a guide bracket 50 onthe incoming side of the rol s, a similar guide bracket 5| ontheopposite side, and adjustable mounting means 52 for each guidebracket so that the same may be aligned with the rolls and also adjustedlaterally for guiding the wire along a desired path between the rolls.Suitable bosses 53 are provided on the machine frame II! for mountingbrackets 5!] and 5!. The bracket 50 is provided with a hardened bushinghaving a circular hole 54 to guide the wire and the bracket 5! isprovided with a bushing having an elongated hole 55 to allow passagetherethrough of the crimps 48.

' The means l1is provided for effecting proper alignment of the rolls 31and 38 so that the seats 40 and crimping members 46 are suitably relat d4 with a minimum of back-lash play in gears 36 and 3|. To this end, gear30 is mounted for free rotation on shaft II, the hub 56 of said gear isprovided with a pair of spaced outwardly and forwardly extending lugs51, a collar 58 is fixed to the shaft, an extension 59 ofsaid collar isarranged between lugs 51, and a set screw 50 is carried by each lug 51and directed to impinge on opposite sides of extension 59. Bymanipulation of the set screws, an angular relative adjustment of theshaft H and gear 30 may be obtained for the purposes indicated and saidadjustment will be maintained by the opposed locking action of the setscrews with respect to each other.

The machine is designed tohandle wire varying in diameter by providingthe means l8 for adjusting the rolls relatively. In this instance, roll31 and its shaft II are carried by the fixed journal bearings 25. Theroll 38 and its shaft l2 are carried in the journal bearings 21. Themeans I8 is provided for adjusting both bearings simultaneously to moveroll58 toward and from roll 31, as desired. Said means comprises a Meansare provided for operating clutch 34v from a position adjacent thecrimping rolls. As shown, said means comprises a clutch collar 56 onshaft 32 for engaging clutch actuating lugs 61, a lever 68 for slidingthe collar, a link 59 extending from lever 68, and a clutch lever 15,fulcrumed at 1!. on the frame ill for effecting shifting of collar 66'.Suitable stop means 12 are associated with the clutch lever to limitits'movement in either direction. A handle 13 on the clutch lever islocated so that an attendant facing rolls 31 and 38 can readily operateclutch 34 to start or stop the drive l4.

While I have illustrated and described what I now regard as thepreferred embodiment of my.

invention, the construction is, of course. subject to modificationswithout departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. I,therefore, do not wish to restrict myself to'the particular form ofconstruction illustrated and described, but desire to avail myself ofall modifications that may.

fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the character described, a pair of interconnecteddriven rolls for forming a continuous length of screen wire havinguniform- 1y spaced curved and offset crimps along the length thereof,anindentation in the concave side of each crimp and a similar indentationin the wire between crimps and on the opposite side of the firstmentioned indentations, one of said rolls having radially extending anduniformly spaced projections and the other having commensuratelyprovided with projections alternating with said indentations.

2. A wire crimping machine comprising a pair of rolls for passing a wirebetween them, one of said rolls having uniformly spaced peripheralconcave seats, a projection on the peripheral face of said roll betweeneach pair of adjacent seats to form a series of spaced indentations insaid Wire, a series of projections on the peripheral face of the otherroll adapted to enter the seats of the first-mentioned rollsuccessively, and means for driving the rolls continuously whereby aseries of crimps offset from said indentations are formed in the wire bysaid projections deforming the wire into-the seats.

JOSEPH R. GUESS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

Number Number 20 327,384 552,531

6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Hunter June 6, 1876 Preller July 5,1881 Behr Aug. 13, 1889, Shellaberger Aug. 20, 1889 Kilmer Dec. 20, 1898Einfeldt Oct. 24, 1899 Angle May 8, 1223 Somers Oct. 5, 1926 RichardsonJan. 31, 1928 Palmer Nov. 13, 1928 Hazen Mar. 4, 1930 Sola June 23, 1931Smith -1 Nov. 28, 1933 Nelson so. 17, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Country DateGreat Britain Apr. 1, 1930 Germany June 15, 1932

